Bowhunting in Colorado

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This past week has found me out and about hunting elk and bear with a crossbow. This is my first season in a long time to be able to bow hunt of some fashion due to being injured and not able to pull my regular bow. So, I opted this year to try a crossbow to get me out in the woods maybe more in a warm time of the year and in closer proximity to the animals I hunt.

I have tried rifle season and found it to be a mad rush with all the hunters pounding the nooks and crannies in search of elusive game and I just cannot keep up with that anymore. And its just not fun when an area is overwhelmed with hunters , its cold and a chance of snow on the ground.  

I do long for those old days when I could get out and do it but have to scale back and find a way to enjoy the seasons regardless of my abilities. One thing that is good about bow season is you can usually find places to hunt that are not jammed with people and that is the case this year. The weekend warriors are out and about and I never do mind their hunting in areas I am in as they only have so much time to do so. I also try and pass on sightings, tips and what I have seen otherwise to them when I talk to them.  

I do not know where the rut is. Last year on August 25th, the elk were already bugling and it was easy to find them at least. This year, its so quiet you can hear a pin drop up there. I have seen some nice bulls taken on water holes but those too are not producing like they should due to all the rains we have had and all the wallows are now full.

Bear hunting remains the same as always. Elusive. They are very nocturnal by nature so hunting a bear here without the use of dogs or bait is very hard. If you can find an old carcass of a dead elk or cow you can sometimes find them keying in on that. I have a carcass spotted and a trail camera on it now for about 5 days but no bears yet. All I have is the shot below of the MOO cow looking at the camera. hah.  

I walked across the RV park last night with a tiny, dull light and talked to my girlfriend Paula. When I turned around, there was a bear. Poor thing already has two tags in his ears which means if he gets in trouble one more time they will shoot him. That's part of the three strikes and you're out rule here in Colorado. He was just a yearling but the fur was gorgeous. Lots of trash calories and bird seed makes city bears fur so thick.  

I have had quite a few ppl emailing me with questions and I am able to get back with you on those pretty quickly. I love sharing what I know and will tell you what I don't know too if applicable.  

 

CLICK ON THE PICS BELOW TO ACCESS THE GALLERY OF PHOTOS

Hiking with Dennis

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Dennis takes us all on a hike today with his great pictures and story.

Wayne led 15 of us up the Middle Alder Cr.  trail; a couple went about 2 miles, 8 went 2.5 miles and 5 went 3.2 miles to an  old cabin for lunch.  The 2.5 mile mark was the designated lunch  stop.....before the creek became the only trail to use.  The creek was the  only trail for about a quarter of a mile.  When we reached the cabin we had  crossed the same creek 13 times!

A great thing about our hike leaders are their  flexibility in letting the hikers choose how far/hard they want to push  themselves; the leaders don't try to make a hiker overextend themselves.   So if you want to go 1mile or 3 miles or 6 miles you may do so with grace. Come  out and join us whenever you can.

Wayne is leading the Tuesday hike for Doug and  I will be leading the group Thursday up the West Bear Cr. trail, one that we  haven't been on for a couple of years.  This will be an "up & back"  hike, returning on the same trail unless the group would like to hike over the  ridge to the East Bear Cr. trail and make a loop down  it.............

All hikes meet at the VC at 9Am, bring a  lunch, water, raingear and a friend.

 

CLICK ON PICTURE BELOW TO ACCESS GALLERY OF PHOTOS.  

Bow Season in Colorado Opens Slow

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It's warm here in South Fork, Colorado and the elk are hiding in the black timber. They are not bugling yet so it's a real search for single animals and family pairs. Bear sign is everywhere you look. Should be a great season for a black bruin. I heard of a 3x4 and a great 6x6 shot all up high on opening day. These bulls are hard to find and most of the early success will be guided hunts or locals with horses. The rut will change that soon.

Elk Season begins for Bowhunters in Colorado

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Unseasonably warm weather has elk hunters asking one another where they elk are and why aren't they bugling. It does seem rather quiet in the forest this week. I talked to quite a few hunters and all echo the same comments. NO ELK SEEN or heard nor any rubs or sign. I suppose the warm weather has them all scattered and just not where we normally look for them this time of year.

Will take a drive and get some up to date infor soon.

Trip to the Taxidermist

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Last year, with a lot of help, I was able to harvest a bear. It took a village for sure with my disability but it was on the bucket list and got filled. I was gone over the winter living closer to my kids and so the taxidermist had the skin over the winter. He had bleached the skull and I had that with me and he worked on the rug off and on while I was gone.

The taxidermist I use is Keith Daniels of rural Monte Vista and he is excellent on all of his work. THE DETAILS are superb and he is a great guy to work with. While not cheap, his prices are well within the norm and I would recommend him to anyone with a trophy.  

 

I will get some pics of the rug tomorrow and post them on here. The one I did post is the skull that he bleached. That is a trophy in and of itself to a hunter. We ate the entire bear and honestly don't believe I have ever had that mild tasting wild game meat ever. Its better than elk, deer, pronghorn and moose for sure.  

The key here was that about 20 guys showed up after the kill and hauled it out for me and had it skinned out within 2 hours. Fast cool down of the meat is probably the key. That and this bear had no body fat on it. It was a dry female bear without cubs and the game warden said it was past cub bearing age. More on this tomorrow as I will look up her age from the tag and genetics testing they did.  

Skull from 2012

Hike with Dennis

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Once again we get to tag along with Dennis as he leads a hike.

 

 

Wayne led us up the WET Tewksberry trail for 2  1/2 miles to the Chute where we had our lunch.  So many flowers and fungi  like never seen before at this time of year and all because of the bountiful  rainfall we have received!!

What a pleasure to enjoy the great outdoors  with a great bunch of folks to enjoy it with.  We welcomed a couple of new  folks, Connie and Tony from Kansas, they did very well for the first time out  with us, hope to see them again soon.....

Wayne is leading the group tomorrow to the top  of San Luis peak, the first 14'er of the year for the group.  We need to  leave South Fork at 5 AM to make the trek and hopefully avoid the rain and  lightning..............

We WILL hike to the top of Fox mtn on  Thursday, if we happen to trip over some mushrooms we will collect them....meet  at the VCPL at 9 AM, bring your lunch, water, raingear and a  friend....

Click on picture below to view gallery.

 

Trail Cameras

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I wanted to post these two photos just to show you how clear the new game trail cameras are that I recently got from Tasco a subsidiary of Bushnell. I will post more on this soon and hopefully have pictures of animals passing by.

 

These were taken from some movement nearby, but I cannot see any animals in the photos.